Metal posts by their very nature lack an inherent flexible resiliency. They tend to be brittle and if bendable, such folds ultimately create a point of weakness which upon further stress can lead to breakage of such metal posts.
As one of the main functions of an upright metal support post is to hold in place a fencing and/or trellis construction the action of wind against the post can instigate metal fatigue as the sunken post is blown and vibrated back and forth. As the metal post has no ability to inherently flex when the wind is forced against it, this ultimately leads to fractures and fissures which can see the metal snap in half.
Still further, as introduced above, metal posts are often incorporated in trellis systems located in between more substantial vertical supports.
In any event these posts are still linked by laterally extending trellis wires which are extended down each row and anchored under tension to the end post.
Mechanical harvesting of modern vineyards mandates that in many instances the harvester must impart a shaking action on the trellis. Such shaking, while designed to dislodge the grapes from the vine, also places considerable force on these metal posts and also along the trellis wire which translates into a push and pull effect upon the metal posts which ultimately may break, split or crack one or more of the metal posts along the length of the row.
Metal posts, again by their inherent characteristics are subjected to chemical corrosion wherein dissolved agricultural chemicals and so forth into the soil interact through electrolysis leading to a degradation of the metal, again which when stress is placed upon the metal posts means that these places where chemical corrosion has taken place will be weakened and are more likely to be broken in half.
Still even further, as metal posts often support fencing arrangements and vineyard trellis systems in places that are regularly exposed to agricultural chemical sprays and so forth, these chemicals react with the metal posts and remove the galvanizing, leading to a breakdown in the structure of the metal post, exposing weaknesses which upon further stresses will see the metal post being broken and thereby of little use.
It is even documented that many metal posts that are located close to sea water often have accelerated degradation as salt can either be blown onto the posts to etch away at the metal structure or alternatively salt is incorporated into, precipitation such as dew, fog and rain which is then wetted down on to the metal post where the salt in the water commences an aggressive corrosive attack upon the metal posts destroying their support integrity.
As the person skilled in the art will appreciate that even if a bent post is pulled or pushed back into shape, the fold line becomes a point of weakness and subsequent stress upon that fold will see the metal post easily broken in two.
As the above introduces, while metal posts are a convenient way in which to support fencing and trellis systems, they are exposed to a variety of hazards which prey upon their inherent ability to offer useful support withinside the fence or trellis structure.
Still further, the very nature of fencing and trellis systems referred to above, is that they can be extremely long and densely populated which means that over time the actual metal posts used withinside the arrangement could differ from those posts sunken at earlier times.
Therefore when one is to repair such large expansive areas of fencing and/or trellis systems, the repair and reinforcement of such metal posts would require a solution that could accommodate all different types of configured metal posts which are used in these systems.
It would be not at all useful or convenient to be able to come up with a solution of repairing and/or reinforcing just the one type of metal post that one in the trade would come across during the process of working ones way through the fencing and/or trellis system to make the necessary maintenance and repair as required.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a metal post reinforcement arrangement that can overcome the problems referred to above or at least substantially ameliorate them.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a complete reading of this specification.